– BUDO REVIEW: MORE K-1 BOUTS, YUKO KONDO WINS

K-1 has announced several more matches for their big New Year’s Eve event at the Osaka Dome. K-1 Max star Masato will return to the ring as he takes on former WBA Super Featherweight Champion Yong Soo Choi. Choi debuted at a K-1 Khan event in September, knocking out Driton Rama in the first round.

Also announced, HEROS star Hideo Tokoro will take on Royler Gracie. It’s been a rough year for Tokoro and he looks to get back on track with a win over Gracie. For Gracie, it has been nearly a year and a half since he has fought. Amateur wrestler Katsuhiko Nagata returns to the ring after his knockout loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama at the HEROS event in May to take on the much smaller ZST veteran Shuichiro Katsumura. Katsumura has proclaimed himself to be “The Real Tiger Mask” as he will be making his K-1 debut. The last match announced was a fight between former Sumo Champion Akebono taking on Giant Silva. Both fighters are winless on New Year’s Eve, so one of them will finally get a long awaited holiday victory.

Yuki Kondo was victorious at Pancrase Blow 11, submitting last minute replacement Ian Nai with a rear naked choke. Kondo was originally scheduled to rematch with Jean Francois Lenogue after a disappointing draw in their first match. Lenogue was coming off a decision loss to Kondo’s archrival Sanae Kikuta at Pride Bushido 13 and was looking to prove that his first performance against Kondo wasn’t a fluke. The fight fell threw at last minute, as Lenogue’s management couldn’t come to terms with Pancrase on a final contract.

After winning his fight, Kondo announced that he would fight on New Year’s Eve, but didn’t say for which promotion, leaving those in attendance to wonder.

Welterweight King of Pancrase Dazio Ishge returned to the ring for the first time since winning his title, defeating Pride Bushido veteran Kenji Arai by decision. Pancrase middleweight sensation Ryo Kawamura faced his second consecutive Chute Boxe middleweight in Nilson De Castro after beating Pride Bushido veteran Daniel Acacio by knockout back in September. Kawamura fought hard but the end result was a draw, thus ending Kawamura’s hot streak. Full results below.